1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to the performance of ground movements of aircraft, that is to say changes in position, using a towing device.
2. Description of Related
Ground movements of aircraft which cannot be accomplished by means of the drive of the aircraft take place by means of external tractors, for example when an aircraft which is ready to take off is to be pushed back from the loading position onto the taxi strip or a change in position between loading positions is required or when it is necessary to convey the aircraft from the loading position to a maintenance position, for example in the hangar. For this purpose, tractors are used which are initially mechanically coupled to the aircraft, generally to the nose landing gear thereof, and then pull or push the coupled aircraft to the desired position. The towing process often takes place by means of a tow bar which is provided with its own chassis, is coupled at one end to the landing gear of the aircraft via a landing gear adapter and is connected at the other end to the tractor. Before or after the towing process the tow bar is transported by the tractor, for example to a new position of use, to or from a tow bar depot and the like.
The tow bar or at least the nose landing gear adapter fastened thereto is tailored to the specific aircraft type to be towed, and therefore, in the case of two or more towing processes of different aircraft types, the appropriate adapter must be installed or a tow bar having the appropriate adapter must be fetched from the depot. In the first case, for this purpose an adapter is fitted to a universal socket of the tow bar and after this retooling the towing process can then be carried out using the appropriate adapter. The retooling is generally very time-consuming, and therefore a large number of tow bars having different pre-installed adapters is preferably kept ready, in particular because, owing to the large spectrum of aircraft weights, correspondingly adapted bar diameters are also required. For this reason, it is also preferable to use tow bars in which a permanently mounted adapter for a specific aircraft type is provided, but this makes it necessary to change the entire tow bar, with a corresponding journey to the depot.